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Sri Lanka Survives Netherlands Scare
Despite a resolute fightback by the Dutch, Sri Lanka held on to register a 21-run victory in their first Super Six match of the ongoing World Cup qualifiers worked off at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on Friday.
After opting to bat first, A disciplined bowling from the Dutch saw Sri Lanka settle for a below-par score of 213 runs riding on the efforts of Dhananjaya de Silva, who scored his highest individual score.
The Asian Champions found themselves struggling from the first bowl after in-form Pathum Nissanka walked back to the pavilion for a golden duck.
Adding salt to Sri Lanka’s wound they lost two more wickets under five overs when Ryan Klein trapped Kusal Mendis for 10, while van Beek removed Sadeera Samarawickrama in the very next over to pin them further down.
To make things worse Logan Van Beek picked up his third wicket in the seventh over that of Charith Aslaanka (2) derailing the Lankans further.
Sri Lanka struggling at 34 for 4 inside seven overs, Dhanajaya de Silva showed some restraint and put on two of Sri Lanka’s most productive partnerships with Wanindu Hasaranga and Mahesh Theekshana.
De Silva struck 93 off 111 balls hitting eight fours and two sixes. He was well supported by Hasaranga and Theekshana, who scored 20 and 28 respectively.
De Silva and Mahesh Theekshana were engaged in a 77-run partnership for the 8th wicket to help Sri Lanka post a defendable total.
In reply, it was almost the carbon copy of the Sri Lanka innings when the Netherlands both openers fell for ducks, Lahiru Kumara removing Vikramjit Singh and Dilshan Madushanka accounting for Max O’Dowd.
Despite a shaky start, the Dutch revived their innings to a certain extent thanks to Wesley Barresi (52) and de Leede (41) putting on 77 for the third wicket before Hasaranga and Theekshana with the ball this time wreaked havoc, sharing five wickets between them. Skipper Scott Edwards (67*) scored his fourth fifty of the tournament to keep the Netherlands in the hunt. But he soon ran out of partners and his side succumbed to a 21-run defeat.
With this win, Sri Lanka has one foot already in the World Cup in India. They need just another win to seal the deal. They take on Zimbabwe at the same venue next.
Meanwhile, In the seventh-place play-off semifinal in Harare, Ireland secured a comfortable six-wicket victory over the USA, who remained winless in the tournament.
The USA asked to bat first, lost two early wickets but recovered with an 88-run partnership between Saiteja Mukkamalla and Sushant Modani. However, Ireland fought back, taking quick wickets and slicing the USA to 196 all out. Craig Young shone with three wickets.
In the chase, Ireland started well, thanks to Paul Stirling’s breezy fifty at the top and was helped by Andy Balbirnie’s 45* along the way as they chased the target with 15.4 overs to spare.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 213 in 47.4 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 93, van Beek 3-26) defeated Netherlands 192 in 40 overs (Edwards 67*, Theekshana 3-31) by 21 runs
ශ්රී ලංකාව නෙදර්ලන්ත භීෂණයෙන් ගැලවෙයි.
නෙදර්ලන්ත ක්රීඩකයන්ගේ නොපසුබට සටනක් නොතකා, සිකුරාදා සිම්බාබ්වේ බුලවායෝහිදී පැවැත්වෙන ලෝක කුසලාන සුදුසුකම් ලැබීමේ තරගාවලියේ ඔවුන්ගේ පළමු සුපර් සික්ස් තරගයෙන් ලකුණු 21 ක ජයක් වාර්තා කිරීමට ශ්රී ලංකාව සමත් විය.
ප්රථමයෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදීමට තීරණය කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව නෙදර්ලන්ත ක්රීඩකයන්ගේ දක්ෂ පන්දු යැවීම හමුවේ සිය ඉහළම පුද්ගලික ලකුණු සංඛ්යාව රැස්කළ ධනංජය ද සිල්වාගේ උත්සාහය මත ශ්රී ලංකාව ලකුණු 213කට සීමා විය.
දක්ෂ පන්දු යැවීමක නිරත වූ පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක ලකුණු රැස් නොකිරීම නිසාවෙන් ආසියානු ශූරයින් පළමු පන්දු යැවීමේ දී අසීරු තත්ත්වයකට පත් විය. ශ්රී ලංකාවේ තුවාලයට ලුණු එකතු කරමින් රයන් ක්ලයින් කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් ලකුණු 10කට දවා ගනිද්දී තවත් කඩුලු 2ක් ශ්රී ලංකා පිලට අහිමි වූ අතර, වැන් බීක් ඊළඟ ඕවරයේදීම සදීර සමරවික්රම දවා ගත්තේ ඔවුන්ව තවත් පහළට තල්ලු කරමිනි.
තත්ත්වය වඩාත් නරක අතට හැරවීම සඳහා ලෝගන් වැන් බීක් හත්වැනි ඕවරයේදී චරිත් අසලංක ඔහුගේ තෙවැනි කඩුල්ල ලෙස දවා ගත්තේ ලංකා ක්රීඩකයන් තවත් පහළට ඇද දමමිනි.
ශ්රී ලංකාව ඕවර හතක් ඇතුළත කඩුලු 4ක් දැවී ලකුණු 34ක් ලබා සිටියදී අසීරු තත්ත්වයක සිටි අතර, ධනජය ද සිල්වා යම් සංයමයක් පෙන්නුම් කළ අතර වනිඳු හසරංග සහ මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ සමඟින් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වඩාත්ම ඵලදායි සබඳතා දෙකක් ඇති කළේය.
ධනංජය ද සිල්වා පන්දු 111කදී හතරේ පහර 8ක් සහ හයේ පහර 2ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 93ක් රැස් කළේය. ඔහුට සහය වූ හසරංග සහ තීක්ෂණ පිළිවෙළින් ලකුණු 20ක් සහ 28ක් ලබා ගත්හ.
ද සිල්වා සහ මහේෂ් තීක්ෂණ 8 වැනි කඩුල්ලට ලකුණු 77ක සබඳතාවයක නියැළෙමින් ශ්රී ලංකා පිල ආරක්ෂා කළ හැකි ලකුණු සංඛ්යාවක් වාර්තා කිරීමට ඉවහල් විය.
පිළිතුරු ලෙස නෙදර්ලන්ත ආරම්භක පිතිකරුවන් දෙදෙනාම දැවී යාම ශ්රී ලංකා ඉනිමේ කාබන් කොපියක් විය.
ආරම්භය බිඳවැටුණද, තෙවැනි කඩුල්ල වෙනුවෙන් ලකුණු 77ක සබඳතාවක් ගොඩනැගූ වෙස්ලි බැරේසි (52) සහ ද ලීඩ් (41)ගේ පිතිහරඹය හේතුවෙන් නෙදර්ලන්ත ක්රීඩකයන් තම ඉනිම යම්තාක් දුරට යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් කළේ ය. ඔවුන්ට. නායක ස්කොට් එඩ්වර්ඩ්ස් (67*) මෙම තරගාවලියේ සිය සිවුවැනි අර්ධ ශතකය වාර්තා කරමින් නෙදර්ලන්තය තරඟයේ තබා ගැනීමට සමත් විය. නමුත් හසරංග සහ තීක්ෂණගේ පන්දු හමුවේ ඉක්මනින්ම ඔහුට අනෙක් පිතිකරුවන්ගේ සහය අහිමි වූ අතර ඔහුගේ කණ්ඩායම ලකුණු 21 ක පරාජයකට යටත් විය.
මෙම ජයග්රහණයත් සමඟ ඉන්දියාවේදී පැවැත්වෙන ලෝක කුසලාන තරගාවලියට ශ්රී ලංකාව දැනටමත් එක් පාදයක් හිමිකරගෙන සිටියි. එය සහතික කරගැනීමට ඔවුන්ට අවශ්ය වන්නේ තවත් ජයග්රහණයක් පමණි. ඔවුන් මීළඟට එම පිටියේදීම සිම්බාබ්වේ සමග තරග වදියි.
සංක්ෂිප්ත ලකුණු: ශ්රී ලංකාව ඕවර 47.4කදී 213 (ධනංජය ද සිල්වා 93, වැන් බීක් 3-26) නෙදර්ලන්තය ඕවර 40කදී 192 (එඩ්වර්ඩ්ස් 67*, තීක්ෂණ 3-31) ලකුණු 21කින් පරාජය කරන ලදී.
News
Dialog Schools Rugby League Week 4: Powerhouses Dominate as Rivalries Intensify
The fourth week of the 2025 Dialog Schools Rugby League brought high-octane action across Colombo and Kandy, as traditional rugby giants asserted dominance while title ambitions sharpened. Here’s a round-up of the top matches that defined the week:
Trinity Outmuscles St. Joseph’s at CR & FC
Trinity College, Kandy, continued their unbeaten streak with a commanding 29-07 win over St. Joseph’s College, Maradana at the CR & FC grounds in Colombo. Trinity crossed the whitewash five times with 5 tries and 2 conversions, displaying explosive forward play and well-structured phases.
St. Joseph’s struggled to match Trinity’s physicality but managed a consolation try and conversion. At halftime, Trinity led 22-0, setting the tone early and maintaining control throughout.
Wesley Tames St. Peter’s in Tight Clash
At Havelock Park, Wesley College recorded a gritty 23-05 victory over St. Peter’s College. The Wesleyites scored 3 tries, 1 conversion, and added 2 penalties, proving their clinical edge under pressure.
St. Peter’s could only respond with a single try and failed to find rhythm. Wesley led 8-0 at the break and controlled territory effectively in the second half.
Isipathana Outguns Zahira in a High-Scoring Thriller
In one of the most entertaining matches of the weekend, Isipathana College edged out Zahira College 38-27 at Zahira Grounds. Isipathana scored 6 tries and 4 conversions, showcasing pace and creativity in attack.
Zahira fought back gallantly with 4 tries, 2 conversions, and a penalty, pushing the defending champions to the limit. At halftime, Isipathana led 26-8, and though Zahira launched a strong second-half rally, the Green Machine held on.
Royal Routs Vidyartha in Dominant Display
Royal College, Colombo, was at their clinical best as they overcame Vidyartha College, Kandy, 29-07 at the Royal Complex. The home side dotted down 5 tries and 2 conversions, demonstrating power rugby and slick handling.
Vidyartha managed a single converted try but struggled to contain Royal’s powerful forwards and rolling mauls. Royal led 12-7 at halftime before pulling away in the second half.
Looking Ahead
With teams like Trinity, Isipathana, and Royal continuing to impress, the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 is shaping up for a thrilling finish. Fans can expect tighter games and fierce battles as title dreams grow stronger.
Stay tuned with Sri Lankan Sports TV for full match reports, results, and exclusive school rugby coverage!
Athletics
Sri Lanka Shines at Thailand Open 2025 with 11-Medal Haul
The Sri Lankan athletics team wrapped up a remarkable campaign at the Thailand Open Athletics Championship 2025, securing an impressive 11 medals, including 6 golds, during the competition held from June 21 to 25 in Bangkok.
The Sri Lankan squad, made up of eight athletes—four men and four women—delivered standout performances across track and field events, making the nation proud on the international stage.
Leading the charge was Rusiru Chathuranga, who clinched double gold in the Men’s 800m and 1500m events. Vicknaraj Vakshan added to the tally with a gold in the 5000m and a silver in the 1500m, while W.K.L.A. Nimali matched that feat by claiming gold in the Women’s 800m and silver in the 1500m.
Madushani Herath showed her dominance in the field events, capturing gold in both the long jump and triple jump. Ayomal Akalanka earned silver in the Men’s 400m hurdles, and Wathsala Hapuarachchi took silver in the Women’s 100m hurdles. Safreen Ahmed contributed a bronze medal in the Men’s triple jump.
While seven out of eight athletes reached the podium, Amasha de Silva narrowly missed out, finishing fourth in the Women’s 100m final, showcasing a commendable performance.
The full team is expected to return to Sri Lanka today after a tour that highlights the depth of talent in local athletics and signals strong potential ahead of upcoming regional events
News
Kingswood College Claims Hard-Fought Win Over Zahira in Week 3 of Schools Rugby League
Colombo – June 23:
Kingswood College, Kandy, came from behind to secure a gritty 27-18 victory over Zahira College, Colombo, in a Week 3 clash of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 played at Zahira College Grounds.
Despite trailing 11-10 at halftime, Kingswood regrouped and powered through in the second half, scoring 3 tries, 3 conversions, and 2 penalties to take home the win. Zahira fought valiantly with 2 tries, 1 conversion, and 2 penalties, but couldn’t match Kingswood’s consistency in the closing stages.
This win marks an important step for Kingswood in their league journey as they eye a stronger position in the 2025 standings.
Full-Time Score:
Kingswood College 27 (3T, 3C, 2P)
Zahira College 18 (2T, 1C, 2P)
📍 Venue: Zahira College Grounds, Colombo
📅 Dialog Schools Rugby League 2025 – Week 3
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